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A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation reveals shocking abuse at New England's largest egg factory farm - Quality Egg of New England (QENE) in Turner, Maine. The hidden camera video shot in early 2009 gives a startling glimpse behind the closed doors of one of the nation's leading egg producers, exposing the rotten truth behind battery cage egg production - heinous cruelty to animals.
State officials responded to the findings of the investigation this morning by executing a raid on the farm.
MFA's investigation reveals: • Rotting carcasses in cages with live hens still laying eggs for human consumption.
• Workers and managers killing birds by grabbing their necks and swinging them around in circles - an attempt to break their necks which often resulted in prolonged, torturous deaths for the hens.
• Supervisors and workers throwing live birds into trash cans, leaving them to be slowly crushed under the weight of other birds' corpses and unable to access food or water.
• Birds suffering from broken bones, bloody open wounds, and untreated infections.
• Hens confined four to six in tiny wire cages so small they were unable to stretch their wings, move freely or engage in other basic behaviors.
• Birds trapped in the wire of their cages or under the feeding trays without access to food or water, some with body parts, including their faces, pressed against moving conveyor belts.
• Management and workers callously kicking live hens into manure pits where they either drowned in liquid feces or likely died slow and painful deaths from illness, injury or starvation.
Numerous veterinarians and animal welfare experts have harshly condemned the conditions documented at QENE. Dr. Temple Grandin, perhaps the world's leading expert on farmed-animal welfare and an advisor to the USDA, stated "[T]he place is a filthy, disgusting mess and very poorly maintained."
Citing violations of Maine's anti-cruelty laws, MFA, assisted with legal council by Compassion Over Killing, has submitted an extensive petition to the local District Attorney urging that the company and the individuals behind the abuse be held legally accountable for such egregious violations of the law.
State officials responded to the findings of the investigation this morning by executing a raid on the farm.
MFA's investigation reveals: • Rotting carcasses in cages with live hens still laying eggs for human consumption.
• Workers and managers killing birds by grabbing their necks and swinging them around in circles - an attempt to break their necks which often resulted in prolonged, torturous deaths for the hens.
• Supervisors and workers throwing live birds into trash cans, leaving them to be slowly crushed under the weight of other birds' corpses and unable to access food or water.
• Birds suffering from broken bones, bloody open wounds, and untreated infections.
• Hens confined four to six in tiny wire cages so small they were unable to stretch their wings, move freely or engage in other basic behaviors.
• Birds trapped in the wire of their cages or under the feeding trays without access to food or water, some with body parts, including their faces, pressed against moving conveyor belts.
• Management and workers callously kicking live hens into manure pits where they either drowned in liquid feces or likely died slow and painful deaths from illness, injury or starvation.
Numerous veterinarians and animal welfare experts have harshly condemned the conditions documented at QENE. Dr. Temple Grandin, perhaps the world's leading expert on farmed-animal welfare and an advisor to the USDA, stated "[T]he place is a filthy, disgusting mess and very poorly maintained."
Citing violations of Maine's anti-cruelty laws, MFA, assisted with legal council by Compassion Over Killing, has submitted an extensive petition to the local District Attorney urging that the company and the individuals behind the abuse be held legally accountable for such egregious violations of the law.